In the beginning of The Great Gatsby Nick Carraway states that Jay Gatsby represents all for which he felt scorn, but later he determines, "Gatsby turned out all right at the end."

When Nick first meets Jay Gatsby, he realizes that the man is pretending to be something that he is not; however, after getting to know Gatsby better, he recognizes in all the man's fabrications about himself that he is at heart a romantic and he comes alive for Nick as a self-formed hero. For instance, Nick observes in Chapter Six, that Gatsby "was faithful to the end" to this conception of himself and his belief "that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing." In Chapter 7, Nick alludes to Gatsby as Trimalchio, a Roman who gave lavish parties. Later, after Myrtle Wilson is struck by the car that Daisy drives, Gatsby worries about Daisy and stands out in the rain, nobly "watching over nothing."After Nick witnesses how Daisy retreats with her husband and hides her guilt over the death of Myrtle, he shouts to Gatsby,

On the other hand, Nick views Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and the others as "careless people," "grotesque," with voices "full of money" and like "a deathless song," and "bad drivers," people who don't consider the effects of their actions upon others. Gatsby was the "great Gatsby" because of his capacity for wonder and his optimism, and his “extraordinary gift for hope [and] a romantic readiness”